14.61 Week
- Q. enquië n. “Elvish week of six days”
-
Name of the Elvish six-day week (LotR/1107; PE17/119), an abstract noun based on enquë “six”. Númenóreans had a seven-day, with an extra day Eärenya inserted in the middle. Using the days Anarya “Sunday” and Isilya “Moonday” [Monday], this can be used to map the Elvish day-names to modern English weekday names.
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had lemnar as the name of the Valian five-day week derived from ᴹ✶lepenar based the root ᴹ√LEPEN “five” (Ety/LEP; EtyAC/LEP). Notes from the 1910s had ᴱQ. otsola as a seven-day week based on ᴱQ. otso “seven”, as well as a word ᴱQ. kainendan “fortnight” of unclear derivation (PE14/21-22).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use enquië as the name of the Elvish six-day week, and ᴺQ. otsola as the name of the Mannish seven-day week; see that entry for details.
- ᴱQ. otsola n. “(seven-day) week”
-
The Early Qenya word for a seven-day “week” is otsola. It is related to the word otso “seven”, and its Gnomish cognate ochlad is derived from ᴱ✶ot·g’lāta (GL/62). The Qenya word is probably derived from ᴱ✶otso-g’lā, where the second element is a reduced form of ᴱ✶galā > kala¹ “daytime”.
Conceptual Development: In a very early list of weekday names, this word also appeared as ᴱQ. otsan (PE14/16, 21), where its second element was probably derived from sana “day” (GL/29).
Neo-Quenya: There are a couple later words for “week” in Quenya, namely ᴹQ. lemnar and Q. enquië. These describe five- and six-day weeks, respectively and are related to ᴹQ. lempe “five” and Q. enquë “six”. The Elves used a six-day week in Tolkien’s later writing (LotR/1107). The Númenóreans added a seventh day that was adopted throughout the human kingdoms of Middle-earth, but Tolkien did not give a name to this seven-day week.
The later Quenya word for “seven” remained otso, and the later word for the six-day week is a combination of enquë “six” with the abstract-noun suffix -ië¹. Therefore, otsola might remain a valid Quenya word for a seven-day week.
14.62 Sunday
- Q. Anarya n. “Sunday, (lit.) Sun-day”
-
The Quenya word for “Sunday”, an adjectival form of Anar “Sun” and second day of the Elvish six-day week enquië (LotR/1110; PM/133).
Conceptual Development: Notes from the 1910s had a variety of earlier words for “Sunday” taken from seven-day and 14-day reckonings: ᴱQ. Poldórien, ᴱQ. Manwisan, ᴱQ. Kémisan, and {ᴱQ. Taimósi >>} ᴱQ. Súlisan; see those entries for discussion.
14.63 Monday
- Q. Isilya [þ] n. “*Monday, Moon-day”
-
The Quenya word for “Moonday” (Monday), an adjectival form of Isil “Moon” and third day of the Elvish six-day week enquië (LotR/1110; PM/130).
Conceptual Development: Notes from the 1910s had a variety of earlier words for “Monday” taken from seven-day and 14-day reckonings: ᴱQ. Múrien, ᴱQ. Ulmosan, ᴱQ. Vaisan, ᴱQ. Vardasan, and ᴱQ. Tinwesan; see those entries for discussion.
14.64 Tuesday
- Q. Aldëa n. “*Tuesday, Tree-day (Númenórean)”
-
An alternate name for Aldúya [“Day of the Two Trees”] used in Númenór as an adjective based on singular alda “tree” rather than dual aldu “two trees”, in reference to the White Tree of Númenor rather than the Two Trees of Valinor (LotR/1110).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. aldea “tree-shadowed” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as an adjectival form of ᴱQ. alda “tree” (QL/29).
- Q. Aldúya n. “*Tuesday, Day of the Two Trees”
-
The Quenya word for the fourth day of the Elvish six-day week enquië, an adjective based on the dual form aldu of alda “tree”, hence “*Day of the Two Trees” (LotR/1110; Let/427). By aligning the Númenórean seven-day week with the modern English week, this is the equivalent of “*Tuesday”.
Conceptual Development: Drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendices had Aldauya (PM/138) or Aldarya (PM/130), the second of which also appeared in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 with the gloss “Monday” (PE22/121). Notes from the 1910s had a variety of earlier words for “Tuesday” taken from seven-day and 14-day reckonings: ᴱQ. Fuinen, ᴱQ. Aulisan, ᴱQ. Marasan, and ᴱQ. Qalmisan; see those entries for discussion.
14.65 Wednesday
- Q. Menelya n. “*Wednesday, Heavens-day”
-
The Quenya word for the fifth day of the Elvish six-day week enquië, an adjective based on menel “heavens” (LotR/1110; Let/427; PM/130). By aligning the Númenórean seven-day week with the modern English week, this is the equivalent of “*Wednesday”. This word also appeared in its short locative form menelyas “on Wednesday” in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 (PE22/121).
Conceptual Development: Notes from the 1910s had a variety of earlier words for “Wednesday” taken from seven-day and 14-day reckonings: ᴱQ. {Taimonen >>} Taimoinen, ᴱQ. Fantóran, ᴱQ. Koirisan, and ᴱQ. Vanasan; see those entries for discussion.
14.66 Thursday
- Q. Eärenya n. “Sea-day, *Thursday”
-
An extra day in the Númenórean seven-day week, an adjective based on ëaren “sea”, hence “Sea-day” (LotR/1110; PM/130). By aligning the Númenórean seven-day week with the modern English week, this is the equivalent of “*Thursday”.
Conceptual Development: Notes from the 1910s had a variety of earlier words for “Thursday” taken from seven-day and 14-day reckonings: ᴱQ. Falassien, ᴱQ. Tulkassan, ᴱQ. Poldosan, and ᴱQ. Nessaran; see those entries for discussion.
14.67 Friday
- Q. Tárion n. “alternate name of the last day of the Eldarin six-day week”
-
Alternate name of the last day of the Elvish six-day week enquië (LotR/1110; PM/138), likely an elaboration of tára “high”.
Conceptual Development: In drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendices, this name was first given as ᴹQ. Tárinar (PM/130).
- Q. Valanya n. “*Friday, Vala-day”
-
The Quenya word for the sixth day of the Elvish six-day week enquië, an adjective based on Vala “heavens” (LotR/1110; Let/427). By aligning the Númenórean seven-day week with the modern English week, this is the equivalent of “*Friday”.
Conceptual Development: In drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendices, this name was first given as ᴹQ. Valarya (PM/130). Notes from the 1910s had a variety of earlier words for “Friday” taken from seven-day and 14-day reckonings: ᴱQ. Palúrien, ᴱQ. Falmasan, and ᴱQ. Onensan; see those entries for discussion.